Advanced Warning
by NikkieSheepie
Summary: A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance? Inspired by a new friend's desires to keep Ianto alive. Please RandR
1. Prologue  1965

**Advanced warning**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Torchwood or any of the characters (if only I did, for starters I wouldn't be writing this fic!)

**A/N:** This story was inspired by a new friend who desperately wanted to keep Ianto alive. The idea is now buzzing around in my head but writing time may be severely limited due to university commitments (i.e. I'm supposed to work rather then procrastinate and write fic...)  
Sorry to anyone reading anything else of mine, all my bunnies have run away I'm afraid but I'm gradually coaxing them back...

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1965

Dread filled the captain's heart as he the reality of what he was about to do struck him. He was about to send 12 children to, to what exactly he didn't know. He'd been told that they would 'live forever' but he knew exactly what that curse meant and he wouldn't wish it on anyone, let alone these kids.

"Walk into the light children." He told them, keeping his voice friendly, yet emotionless. One boy stayed by his side, unsure of what to do.

"It's safe though, isn't it?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, its safe." He replied, gently encouraging the boy forwards. Moments later there was a blinding flash of white light and the children vanished.

Gasping for breath she tucked herself behind the nearest car, hoping to avoid prying eyes. She shouldn't be here, and only one person should see her. Peering through the window of the jeep she could be pretty certain this vehicle belonged to the man she was looking for; the lack of personal items being the biggest giveaway. She quietly opened the back door and hid herself in the shadows to await the owner.

Jack had done his bit, he'd delivered the children as he'd promised and now he was done. He could hardly bare to think about what he'd just done, let alone dwell on it. 'Maybe they really are in paradise.' The words danced through his head, jeering at him, trying to make him feel even worse.

He opened the door and slumped heavily into the driver's seat, letting out a sigh as he did so before burying his head in his hands on the steering wheel, glad he'd left his jeep here earlier and didn't have to drive the bus back to the depot. Even in the privacy of his own jeep he could feel the ghosts, the disapproval.

"Jack?" said a small voice from behind him, pulling him back to his senses. Reaching for his gun he spun around to face the back seats, aiming at the darkest area of shadows where the owner of the voice must be hidden.

"Jack, I need to talk to you. Put the gun down. Please." Said a woman as she moved forward slightly, showing her face for the first time. "It's about the children."

Jack's face hardened, he'd never seen this woman before and he knew everyone who was involved with the handover, at least their faces if not their names. "What are you talking about?" he growled, refusing to lower his revolver.

The woman took a deep breath, considering how best to explain herself. "My names Gwen Cooper, and I've just jumped across from an alternate universe to warn you about the future."

Jack looked at the woman, considering the truth of this statement. It was unlikely that people would come out with such a tale unless it was true, after all, it was a hard thing to make up. He looked the woman up and down, if she was from the future then it must be the near future, her clothing placed her in the 21st century. "From the future hu?" he asked, sarcasm creeping into his voice just a little.

The woman nodded slowly, "Your future Jack. Torchwood." She reached into her pocket and slowly drew out a dark object.

"Where did you get that?" Jack growled, aiming his gun more purposefully at Gwen's chest as he recognised the object, a vortex manipulator.

"You gave it to me, so I could come here and warn you." She cringed slightly at her sentence, realising that it technically made no sense at all. "I'm sorry Jack, but I can't stay here long, you're just going to have to listen to me and trust what I tell you. They're going to come back and only you can stop things being even worse. They're going to come back and they're going to want more children next time."

Jack lowered his gun slightly, this was not what he wanted to hear.

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**Well, What do you think? Please review!  
This is only the prologue but I need to know if its worth continuing and what sort of ideas people have about what direction this is going in.**

**I'm not entirely sure where this story will end up going, please be aware of the rating changing etc. :) **


	2. Explanation and Recollection

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Just take this as a given from now on yeah? Its not mine, only the plot is, and only part of that is mine... I'm just creatively fiddling with it.

**A/N:** Due to a stupid essay which I REALLY don't want to write you have another update. Don't start expecting updates every week, you've just been lucky so far. :) Please enjoy and read and review.

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Explanation and Recollection

"Alright, start talking." said Jack as he closed the door to his room in the Bed and Breakfast which was supplying his bed for the night, not that he was likely to sleep.

Gwen perched awkwardly on the edge of the bed, still trying to figure out the man she suddenly knew nothing about. "Everything went wrong Jack, they came back, demanding more children and there was nothing anyone could do. You stopped them eventually but-" she stopped, on the verge of tears. Her Jack had warned her not to say any more then absolutely necessary else the future could be changed too much.

Jack looked at the woman properly for the first time since they had met. She was striking, a face that was easy to remember, yet at the same time, easy to disregard as just another person in the street. As she stopped he moved towards her and sat on the bed next to her. "Things don't go well, I get it. But why are you telling me this?" he asked gently, careful not to push her too fast.

Blinking back her tears Gwen looked her boss in the eye, "I don't know exactly how, but you used some sort of sound wave against them. I guess it'll mean more to you then it does to me."

Jack nodded his understanding, it made sense to fight them with their only apparent means of communication, after all, he had no idea who they were leaving him with no other means of attack.

"Promise me you'll be careful Jack." Gwen said suddenly, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. "Look after yourself, you're no good to the rest of us if you don't."

Jack smiled a little, at least he had something to look forward to, apparently at least this mysterious Gwen cared for him. He hugged her back as he whispered softly, "I will, I promise."

Gwen pulled away from the captain a few minutes later, drying her eyes, leaving smears of eye make up across her cheeks. "I wish I could stay here." She took a deep shuddering breath, "But I can't mess things up in this world any more then I already have. Good luck Jack." She said as she stood and pulled the vortex manipulator out of her pocked once more and pressing a simply combination of buttons before vanishing into thin air.

Years later Jack sat at his desk recalling the information Gwen Cooper had given him in 1965, it had been brief and vague but it was enough of a warning to keep him watching out for the 456, to make him start planning a defence.

"Knock Knock." said a handsome Welshman as he approached the captain's office door with two mugs of coffee, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Jack smiled his greeting and his thanks for the drink, taking it from the young man's hands. "I was just thinking about something I was told a while back. It doesn't matter now. How're you doing tracing down that wandering rift spike?"

"I've set a programme up, should find it and give us a predicted route in about 15 minute's sir."

"Ianto, what have I told you about the 'sir' thing?" Jack said with a smile.

Ianto blushed a little at the reference Jack was clearly making, "Not unless we're in bed." He recited dutifully, taking a large gulp of slightly too hot coffee to hide his embarrassment.

"Why the blushing Ianto? Gwen's not around. She won't be in for at least, what 10 minutes. That is, if she's planning to be on time for once." Jack put his coffee down before moving seductively towards his coffee bringer, his hands overlaying Ianto's around the hot mug.

"_BEEP BEEP BEEP."_ The harsh noise echoed around the empty hub, casing Ianto to jump slightly, spilling coffee over his and Jack's hands. Laughing, Jack left Ianto to gather his thoughts as he moved to the nearest monitor to check what the alert was.

"Mr Williams is in the emergency department, looks like we're going to have to go and claim his hitch-hiker. Coming Ianto?" called Jack as he grabbed his coat and the keys to the SUV and made for the exit, soon followed by Ianto, perfectly suited and professional.

"No you die. Not me! You die like a dog, and ugly dog!" joked Jack as he and Ianto re-entered hub having successfully retrieved their prize.

"Oi, chuckle brothers, come here and look at this." Said Gwen, cutting Jack off as he began to order her around again.

_'Children, They're going to want more children.'_


	3. We Need a Doctor

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** There are many reasons for the lateness of this update (although I did warn you about the sporadic updating) but the main reason (in my eyes) is very very exciting indeed. I met Mr Barrowman! *insert fangirl squeal* The funniest thing is that I managed to have a intelligent, coherent conversation with the man (and he used my phone and signed my DVD!) while my friend just stood and stared being completely star struck.  
Unfortunatley I only got to see him for a few minutes but I can assure you all that he is a genuinley REALLY nice person. (especially considering he wasn't supposed to talk to my friend on my phone OR sign books but he did anyway!).

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We need a doctor

Alarm bells started to ring as soon as Jack realised what they were looking at. Children, all over the world were stopping, for no apparent reason, causing accident after accident after accident. _'It doesn't mean its going to happen now.'_ he reminded himself, all the while remembering exactly who it was that told him about the children all those years ago.

"Jack?" Gwen asked cautiously, "Jack, what is it? Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

Jack shook his head. "No. Ianto, I need you to go down to the archives and find item 456-c-65, quick as you can."

Ianto nodded his agreement and quickly went to retrieve the required item. Gwen looked at Jack. "You know something." She stated simply.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. Just keep doing what we do for now and we'll see what happens."

A while later, after Ianto had retrieved the desired object from the old storage area of the archives he ran into Jacks office with an exuberant "He's back!"

"I knew it." Exclaimed Jack as he left his office and the small storage box from the archives to look over Ianto's shoulder at the CCTV of the Plass where sure enough, Dr Rupesh Patanjali, the doctor who happened to spot the hitch-hiker earlier, was wandering around, obviously looking for something to point him towards Torchwood.

"What's going on?" asked Gwen, joining the boys at the workstation.

"That," began Jack, "Is Doctor Rupesh Patanjali, spotted the hitch-hiker at the hospital." He looked up at Gwen, "We need a doctor." He said sadly.

"You bastards. You utter bastards. That's exactly what you done to me when I first met you!" exclaimed Gwen when she realised what they were doing. Jack had found a possible replacement doctor and was planning to leave him wandering around for a while before possibly going to talk to him. "Screw that, I'm promoting myself to recruitment officer." She declared as she grabbed her jacket and headed for the cog door.

Ianto looked at Jack, Jack looked at Ianto. "Looks like you just promoted Gwen." Ianto said simply before looking back at his computer screen.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it." Jack said with a smile.

Gwen quickly found the bemused looking doctor and introduced herself, they sat, spoke for a while over a cup of coffee before Gwen suddenly stopped speaking, mid-sentence. "Shit."

Across the plass a mother was scalding her child who appeared to be completely ignoring her. "Suzette come on. You're going to make me late." The child stood, completely still, not fighting her mother, simply ignoring her, as if she was in her own little world, as if she were in a trance.

Gwen tapped her ear piece, "Jack, get up here now!" she screamed as she ran towards the mother and her child. "They're doing it again! The children!"

Back in the hub Jack ran for the door. "Ianto, come on!" he yelled as he ran for the cog door, heading for the surface.

Ianto booted up his handheld video-camera and began filming a mother and her two children while Rupesh tried to examine a third and Gwen and Jack stared at a fourth.

"_We. We. We. We are. We are. We are coming. We are coming. We are coming."_

"Who are you?" asked Gwen, "Who's coming?"

The children snapped out of the trance abruptly and began talking as if it had never happened.

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**A/N:** Sorry its a little short but this chapter was amazingly hard to write, weird considering that most of it is pretty similar to what actually happened... must have Barrowman on the mind... mmm...


	4. Where Can I Get a Kid?

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** Again I appologise for the slow updating, I've had many issues, mostly being university and the lack of time (and sleep) that goes with it but also exams, moving out of uni and back home again, lack of muse/plot bunnehs and medical issues.  
Thanks go to everyone (readers, reviewers, silent stalkers etc) for sticking with me. I promise this will begin to get more exciting before long but you know what its like, gotta set the scene etc.

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Where can I get a kid?

Rupesh followed the Torchwood team back to the tourist information office that served as a front for the hub, ignoring the fact that it tended to be closed more then it was open now days due to 'staff shortages' which wasn't technically a lie.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Jack asked as the doctor made to follow them into the hub.

"I dunno, I could help." He said simply, overwhelmed by the scale of what was going on around him and how these three ordinary looking people hoped to manage it.

"You're bleeping." Gwen announced, partially to alert the doctor to his pager, partially to disperse the tension building between the two men.

"Yeah, right. Erm. Okay, thanks." Rupesh stumbled over his words as he made to leave. "What's in there?" he asked, pointing at the entrance to the tourist office.

Gwen turned to look at him and smiled, "Big sci-fi super base."

"Gwen, I need you to look into this children thing, tell me what you find out, anything to link them, any tests that have been done anywhere. Ianto, I need you in my office now." Jack ordered as the three of them reached the main hub area. Gwen immediately set about searching for any scraps of information she could find while Ianto followed Jack into his office.

"What is it Jack?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"This box." Said Jack shortly, "Was there anything else with it?"

Ianto shook his head, puzzled. "No, that's all there was. Why? What's going on Jack?"

"Someone's tampered with the records. There should be more!"

"Are you sure Jack? There was nothing else in the computer system either. That's all I could find." Queried Ianto who knew the archives better then anyone, especially Jack who refused to go down there unless absolutely necessary, necessary including dragging Ianto away from his filing occasionally.

"Yes I'm bloody sure! I put it there!" Snapped Jack before taking a few deep breaths. "Sorry, it's not your fault." He paused, "On a different note entirely, I need a kid. We gotta do some tests, find out what's going on." Another pause. "I'll see you later." He announced before grabbing his great coat and practically running out of the hub.

"Jack?" Called Gwen as the blue coated figure dashed passed her, "Where's he going then?" She asked Ianto as he emerged from the office.

Ianto shrugged. "Said something about needing a kid before taking off."

Ianto knocked on the door to his sisters home. They hadn't spoken in a few months, not even a quick phone call. He'd all but lost touch with his only remaining family and he wasn't proud of it. Ianto swore to himself that once this was all over with he'd be a better brother and uncle.

"Oh my gosh, is it Christmas or something?" asked a cheerful woman as she opened the door. "What're you doing here then? Come in you daft sod!" Rhiannon stepped aside and practically pulled her brother into the house before making for the kitchen and putting the kettle on to boil.

"How're they?" asked Ianto as he pulled out his wallet and gave his nephew and niece ten pounds each, like he did every time he visited.

"They're fine, bit of a shock but no lasting damage by the looks of things. Did you thank your uncle?" Rhi asked before reprimanding her children for their impoliteness.

"We did." The children chorused before David slinked off upstairs and Micah returned to her computer game.

Jack called Rupesh as he climbed into the sports car Torchwood owned but rarely used. In fact it technically belonged to Jack, he just used it so rarely, preferring the SUV, that he thought of it more as the company car then his own. "You've got a kids ward right? I need to borrow one, find out what's going on."


	5. Betrayed

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** Firstly, MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone that celebrates. Secondly, sorry for being slow. This time of year is mad in my house, 2 birthdays and Christmas make things... busy... Thirdly, I promise this is the last boring chapter, things will begin to change soon, I promise. I didn't want to retell the story, after all you all watched it. It's just difficult to do what I want to do without repeating the first section.

Happy Holidays!

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Betrayed

Rupesh shook his head as soon as the Captain mentioned borrowing a kid. "There's something else you've got to see first." He quickly explained before leading Jack into the hospital. "After that hitchhiker I got thinking about what else might have come through our doors, just after I got back after the whole 'We are coming' business, this guy appeared in reception." By this time the pair had reached a room away from the main hospital area with a large red sign with the word Isolation written clearly across the window.

"Well, you didn't do a very good job with him did you doctor?" said Jack sarcastically as they entered the room. A Caucasian man lay on the bed, very obviously dead.

Rupesh smiled a little, "I've never seen anything like it. It was," he paused as Jack moved over to the bed, "he was coughing up a blue goo I suppose. Not a tinge of blue, proper bright sky blue."

Jack turned to the man in question, he looked normal enough, definitely human, but blue goo wasn't something you hear about every day in relation to an illness. "Alright, we'll get him back to the Hub, we've got some equipment there-" Jack stopped mid sentence as something slammed into his back. He gasped for breath before slumping to the floor dead.

Behind him Rupesh stood with the pistol still raised.

'Well? Any sign?" asked a woman dressed in black as she entered the room marked as isolation, followed by two men also dressed in full black military outfits.

"No, not yet." Replied Rupesh as he handed over the pistol he'd been carrying.

A second after the Doctor had finished speaking Jack gasped back into life again. A single gunshot was fired and a round quickly found it's mark in his heart.

"Do it." Ordered the woman before leaving the room. Another gunshot was fired, before a quiet buzzing. Soon the room was cleared, leaving only three dead bodies behind.

"We, need to talk." Said Rhiannon as she placed two mugs of tea on the table, one for her, one for her brother.

"About what?" asked Ianto, wondering what his sister could possibly need to talk to him about this urgently.

"You've been seen." She said simply. Receiving a blank look in response she continued. "Linda spotted you having dinner, with a man, in that fancy new place that opened in town."

"So…?"

"She said he was gorgeous, like an escort or something. Have you gone bender on me?"

Ianto didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He knew his sister wouldn't judge but, he still wasn't sure about his relationship with Jack himself. "No. It's.." Ianto chewed his lip a little.

Reaching across the table Rhi took his hand gently. "Hey, hey, its alright."

Ianto smiled a little before taking a deep breath, "Its not men. It's just him. Just Jack." He relaxed a little, he was finally working out where he stood on the rocky road of relationships.

"He's nice? You know him well then?" Rhi proceeded cautiously, she knew her brother too well to push him. Although now she came to think about it. She didn't really know him at all. They hadn't really spoken properly in years, not since their parents had both passed away, only visiting each other a few times a year, the odd phone call every now and again.

"He's my boss. He's-" Ianto paused, not quite knowing the right way to describe Jack, "unconvential. But, don't go spreading this, please. I'm not broadcasting."

Rhi smiled, "I won't, I won't breathe a word." She said, as the door open and in walked her husband.

"Oi oi gay boy! What you doing here?" exclaimed Johnny as he spotted his brother in law at the kitchen table. Ianto gave his sisters daggers as he was pulled into a hug. "That your car out there? Big black thing?" asked Johnny, pulling away from the man-hug.

"That's the company car."

"Better watch it round here." Warned Johnny.

Ianto smiled, "Oh no, top of the range, got a triple dead lock."

"Oh yeah, sounds like it." Said Johnny simply.

Ianto noticed for the first time the car alarm sounding from outside and pushed Johnny aside to investigate. Hoping the SUV's lock was holding the kids off from nicking the car.


	6. Bomb

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** This was really hard to write! I don't know why but my muse ran off halfway through and refused to come back. Sorry its a little late (as a new year resolution I promise to try and be a bit more regular with my updates) and a little short but things should start speeding up soon if things work how they've lined up in my little plan. Thanks for sticking with it. :)

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Bomb

Jack and Ianto returned to the Hub within a few minutes of each other, Ianto arriving first. When Jack walked in a few minutes later he found Gwen and Ianto staring intently at their workstations, tapping commands for searches and writing down even the most insignificant scrap of information.

"I found a one man talking with the kids, Timothy Whi-." She stopped mid sentence "Are you alright?" Asked Gwen as she spotted the blood on her bosses shirt. Even though she knew she didn't need to worry about him, she still did. Just because he was physically immortal, didn't mean death didn't play on his mind.

Jack merely nodded. "They killed Rupesh. We need _another_ doctor." Jack said sadly, oblivious to the doctors betrayal.

Ianto was by his side in a heartbeat, he always would be. "Did they..?"

Jack knew what the end of the sentence was, as hard as it was to say. He nodded and was quickly enveloped into a hug.

"Jack." Ianto said suddenly. "Are you sure you're ok? Just that, something doesn't seem right."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno… something's just not right…" Ianto trailed off. "Come down to the med bay a sec." He couldn't explain it, even to himself, Jack just didn't feel right as he hugged him.

Jack followed the younger man, "Ianto?" he asked as the semi-portable scanner was dragged out from its storage area. He allowed his hand to be placed on the scanning pad and stood placidly as the scan commenced.

"I dunno Jack, just wait." Replied Ianto as he stood waiting for the results to appear on the wall of the med bay.

'_Warning. Warning'_

"Shit!" Ianto stared at the readings. "There's a bomb in your stomach!"

The hub instantly turned into a scene of panic.

Gwen ran from her work station to see the results for herself. "Oh my god!"

Jack pushed Ianto out of the med bay. "Get out! Both of you! Now!"

Ianto fought against Jack. "We can get it out! It'll tear you apart!"

"No! Out! Ianto get that box and get out!"

_'Two minutes to detonation. Two minutes to detonation.'_

"What?" exclaimed Ianto.

Jack ran to his office and grabbed the small box and the folder of paperwork next to it and thrust it at Ianto. "Don't ask questions, just go!"

"What's so important about a box!"

"Just go! The pair of you!" Jack shouted as he pushed Gwen roughly towards the rolling door, ignoring her protests as he did so. He turned to find Ianto setting the hub to lockdown. "Ianto!" He screamed, he was getting desperate as he dragged the younger man away from the controls.

'_Hub lockdown commencing. One minute to detonation.'_

"I said go! I can survive anything!" Jack physically pushed Ianto onto the invisible lift, shoving the box and papers into his hand. "Don't loose that. If there's one thing you're going to need it's that."

Ianto opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by a forceful kiss. As he pulled away Jack tapped his wrist strap quickly to send the lift towards the surface. "I'll come back. I always do." He said just loud enough for Ianto to hear before he was out of earshot.

Looking at the countdown on the wall Jack resigned himself to his fate, closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

The explosion shook the bay area of Cardiff, the pavement bucked, buildings shook and debris rained down from the water tower and the buildings nearby.

Gwen pushed herself to her feet, desperate to find Jack and Ianto she ran towards the crater that had been created by the blast, stumbling as she went.

Ianto coughed as dust and smoke filled his lungs, the lift had almost reached the surface before the bomb had gone off. He held tightly to the apparently vital information as he crawled to the surface.


	7. Family Ties

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** All right, I lied a little about the regular updating thing. Turns out that working full time, doing a ton of assignments for uni and trying to eat and sleep is really hard to fit into a 24hour day so writing got shoved out somewhat. Hopefully things should settle down a little now and as I gradually get all these essays done I'll actually have some time to write about the things I WANT to write about. :) Sorry... again... :)

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Family Ties

Rhys woke as various objects around the house shook and in some cases fell to the floor. Sitting up his first thought was 'Was that an earthquake?' quickly followed by 'Where's Gwen?' as he reached for his phone and hit the speed dial for his wife.

Gwen's phone began ringing as she crawled across the rubble towards her suited friend. Ignoring the persistent buzzing in her pocket she reached down into the hole Ianto was currently stuck in. "You alright Ianto?" she asked as she hauled him to the surface.

"Been better." He groaned in reply. Ianto looked back the way he'd just come, hoping for a glimpse of Jack.

Gwen grabbed him by the arm, "He'll be fine, come on Ianto." She said as she pulled him out of and away from the explosion site.

It wasn't until they were away from the site of the explosion that Gwen realised her phone was ringing. She pulled out of the pocket and looked at the caller display, it was Rhys. She answered the phone and cut Rhys off as he began talking. "Not a good time Rhys." She shouted into the phone as she pulled a distraught Ianto further away from the wreckage.

"Was that an earthquake?" Rhys asked, "It's just that everything in the house shook. Going to be needing new photo frames mind, and there's car alarms going off all over the city."

"It wasn't an earthquake, and before you ask it wasn't the Rift either." Gwen said as she looked back to Roald Dahl Plass. "A bomb just blew up. Shush, just hang on a minute." Gwen hushed her husband quickly as he began protesting and no doubt worrying. "I need you to get out of the house, and run, doesn't matter where, and don't tell me. Just go." She ended the call, certain that while he didn't understand why, Rhys would follow her instructions.

In another area of Cardiff Ianto's sister and her family were about to be rudely awoken by a group of men dressed in black carrying rather big guns. Rhiannon was rushing downstairs to answer the urgent knocking on the door, thinking it could be her brother when the door was kicked in and she found herself being questioned on the whereabouts of her older sibling.

"Ianto, we need to move. Now!" commanded Gwen in an effort to get her obviously shocked friend moving. "Whoever put that thing in Jack is probably after us as well. There's nothing we can do for him if we're dead. Now come on!" She dragged a reluctant Ianto to his feet and they began to move quickly through the back streets of Cardiff, taking random turnings in random places as they looked for somewhere that offered some degree of safety.

Rhys pulled over as the policeman ahead signalled for him to stop his car. "Andy, what's going on mate?"

"Big ol' explosion down in the bay. They want us to stop the traffic getting anywhere near the area. Nothing to do with our Gwen is it?" Andy replied, he had no idea what was going on, some other authority had taken control and he had assumed it was Torchwood with another one of their spooky doo's.

"I dunno, she hasn't called or anything." Rhys replied innocently, technically he wasn't lying, he'd called her. "Not to worry, I was only on my way to the late night shopping thing they've got going, wanted to get Gwen a surprise see."

"Alright, well when you see her just tell her I'd like a little more information next time." Smiled Andy as Rhys shifted the car into reverse and performed a neat three-point-turn before driving away.

A few roads away Rhys pulled over and sent a short text to Gwen. '_Whole bay area is closed off'_. From the short, one sided conversation they'd had Rhys had gathered that Torchwood was having trouble with someone, or something, so a little extra knowledge would probably be appreciated. Once the screen said _'Sent'_ Rhys put the car in gear again and headed out of town towards the motorway.

"For the last time. I don't know where my brother is right now, maybe in bed like a normal person at this time of the morning! Now please get out of my house." Repeated Rhiannon as she was questioned once again as to where her brother could be found. She sat with Micah on one side of her on the sofa, snuggling in close to the protective form of her mother, while David sat on the other side of her with Johnny standing protectively behind his son.


	8. Why?

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** Look at that, I managed to update in a decent sort of time frame! I was planning to try and get a bit of writing done this weekend but looks like you might have another long wait as I've gotten gloriously ill and currently spend all my time sleeping or working so no prizes for guessing what my weekend plan is!  
Once again thanks for sticking with me on this. My bunny has come back with a whole truck load of stuff it wants me to write but this story wasn't on the list unfortunately. Well, I say that, he's missed a few chapters out, he's apparently very impatient!

Comments etc. are always welcome!

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Why?

Knowing they couldn't go anywhere that could be even indirectly connected with Torchwood Gwen and Ianto moved about the town without a destination. When Gwen received a text from Rhys warning her that the whole bay area was sealed off they knew they were in trouble.

"We've got to get out of here. Get out of town ideally." Gwen said as they stopped in a bus shelter, trying to look innocent as they pretended to inspect the timetable. It was nearly dawn and it would be even harder to move undetected in the daylight.

"Yeah, great plan, just how to you suggest we do that? They've got the whole area closed down, we can't just walk by and smile sweetly, hoping they let us through!" whispered Ianto harshly. He was cold, sore and tired, Jack was missing, almost certainly dead and he was now on the run from… actually he had no idea who is was on the run from or why. All in all this hadn't been the best night of his life.

Gwen turned as she heard footsteps approaching. "Looks like we've got no choice." She replied as she returned the wave of the approaching policeman.

"Hello there, and why are you two out at this ungodly time of the morning?" asked the policeman politely but with a definite hint of authority to his voice.

"We've been at the late night shopping we have, it's my niece's birthday tomorrow and I totally forgot to get her a present." Replied Gwen innocently.

The policeman studied her for a second before looking at Ianto. "There isn't a bus for another few hours mate." He said simply as he reached into his pocket for a pad of paper and a pen. "I guess you must have heard the explosion earlier," he began as he riffled for a clean page to write on, "we've been asked to take down everyone's names and addresses that we come across. Not that I'm suggesting you had anything to do with it, just to contact witnesses at a later date."

Gwen smiled sweetly, "Not a problem at all, I'm Ellen Jones and this is my fiancé Gareth Black."

The officer scribbled down the information quickly, "And your addresses?"

"15 Bridge street, out in Llandaff." Finished Gwen.

The officer nodded, wrote down the address and put his note pad away. "Alright, when you get to the cordon, tell the officer there that you spoke to Fred Grant and you'll be let through. Don't wait for the bus, just head out of town on foot for a while." He smiled his goodbye and continued on his round, leaving Gwen and Ianto sighing in relief.

'Thank god I never worked with him.' Thought Gwen as they moved in the direction indicated by Fred Grant, hoping they would have similar luck with the officer on the tape.

As they neared the police tape which marked the prohibited area Gwen and Ianto stopped to discuss their options. Either they could sneak past and hope they weren't spotted as that would almost certainly get them taken in for questioning, or they could hope that they weren't recognised by the officer on the tape.

"If he knows you would it be so bad? I mean, what's the worst that will happen, he'll log you down as having left and Fred'll work out we told porkies." Offered Ianto.

Gwen thought about this for a second. "The biggest problem is if there's a wanted list circulating, coz let's face it, we're number one and two right now."

"Yeah, but how often do the individual officers know what's going on. I mean, we never told them what we were doing, and since the police are probably being controlled by someone else right now then we might get away with it." Ianto countered.

Gwen nodded her agreement, "Alright, we'll try it. But if I'm recognised, you're still Gareth Black."

It didn't take long for the officer to spot them walking towards the cordon and he moved to meet them.

Gwen let out a small breath as she recognised the figure before them. PC Andy Davidson. There would be no talking their way around this one, just hope they would be let through.

"Andy." Gwen called to her former college, "Can you do us a favour?"

Andy waved his greeting, "Only if you tell me what on earth is going on. I thought this was you lot again."

As Gwen and Ianto reached the squad car Andy was standing next to she began her condensed explanation. "Long story short, its nothing to do with us, unless you count us being the target. Someone set a bomb off in the bay, obviously intended for us, so now I need to borrow the car."

Andy stared at Gwen, dumbfounded, "Why?"


	9. Mystery Report

**Advanced warning (Emily's Story)**

A CofE fix it story. What if things had happened differently? What if they knew in advance?

**Disclaimer:** Not mine (mostly)

**_A/N:_** I guess you're all sick of me saying sorry for the stupid update times but still, I have to say it again. Sorry. I've only got one more week of working before a few weeks of holidays but unfortunately I've still got to finish 3 out of 3 essays. (If anyone can think of some nice sources for a communications essay then please tell me!) On the bright side, two only need fiddling with, one still needs to be written.  
My little muse has run off with all my ideas for this story, leaving my head full of fluff which is REALLY unhelpful. I promise to write and update when I get time and the creative know how!

Comments etc. are always welcome!

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Mystery Report

Jack had realised almost immediately that the events unfolding were the very events that he'd been warned about back in 1965 by the alternate Gwen Cooper. The only problem had been that between realising what has happening and becoming physically unable to do anything about it Jack hadn't had time to sit down and think things through enough to explain them to Gwen and Ianto. He'd just have to hope that even though part of the information he'd put aside all those years ago had gone missing, there was enough to at least point his resourceful colleges in the right direction. At least he'd answered one thing, being blown to pieces wasn't enough to stop him, he really could 'survive' just about everything. There couldn't be much left for him to try.

Gwen eventually persuaded Andy that lending her the police car was the only way for them to start sorting things out. After all, driving around in a cop car meant that they wouldn't get stopped and could do just about anything they wanted. As Gwen drove somewhat aimlessly Ianto opened the folder he'd had thrust at him by Jack seconds before the explosion.

_1965_

_Secondary report filed by Captain Jack Harkness_

_The following events happened after the initial mission_

_I retired to my jeep and found that a woman was sitting in the back seat, a woman who I had never seen before but who appeared to know about the deal we had just brokered. She explained that she had jumped from a parallel dimension by using a vortex manipulator in order to warn me about the future._

_Upon questioning she acted consistently with the era she claimed to be from, her clothes and vocabulary matched and any notable events I knew of had apparently happened. I believe she was indeed from the future, from another dimension I cannot be sure, but certainly from the near future._

_She warned me that the deal would not work. Before long they would come back and they would demand more, much more. Apparently it had been stopped but not without sacrifices, sacrifices that could be prevented._

_I did not ask for specific names and dates as I knew that, if her would was true about who sent her, she would not answer._

"Gwen, this is big." Said Ianto as he finished reading the cover sheet. "Jack had a visit, warning him about something and I bet you anything that that something is now."

Gwen looked at Ianto for a second before looking back to the road. "Does it say what?"

Ianto shook his head. "Apparently this person came from a parallel dimension to warn Jack about the future. There's nothing more about what exactly it was." He paused as he riffled through the sheets behind. "There's some equations, something about sound waves and some names written down but nothing about what's apparently happening."

"We need to find Jack. If we can get Jack to explain what's going on then we have some chance of stopping it." Said Gwen as she pulled over in a random street in Caerwent, no links to Torchwood what-so-ever.

"That's weird." Said Ianto, elaborating as he spotted the look on confusion on Gwen's face. "This list of names, Andrew Staines, Ellen Hunt, Michael Sanders, blah blah blah, but written on the bottom of the list, Gwen Cooper, with a nice big circle around it."

"What?"

"Gwen Cooper, look." Ianto lent across the car and pointed at the last name on the list. "The question is, why are you on this list?"

Jack looked around him once again, just in case he'd missed something the first seventy times he'd looked. A concrete room, one door, a table which he was currently lying on top of, chains from his wrists t0 the wall behind his head, a single bulb supplying light, a surveillance camera in the corner and what appeared to be a porthole in the ceiling. Nothing had changed.

He pulled at his chains once again, grunting as he tried in vain to free himself. Unfortunately the somewhat helpful power of super-strength had once again failed to attach itself to his little 'fixed point in space and time'. That was something he would have to keep wishing for.


End file.
